Books on baseball

[marcshoe]

Originally Posted by chicoruiz

The funniest book about baseball ever is The Great American Baseball Card Book, by Brendan C. Boyd and Fred Harris, but you probably have to go to E-Bay to get it. Has anyone else here read it?

Many, many years ago.

[Phhhl]

Originally Posted by westofyou

Just finished it.

Redszone would eat Fred Hutchinson alive.

Now you have me interested!

[GoGoWhiteSox]

My favorite has to be You're Out and You're Ugly too by former Major League umpire, Durwood Merrill. That book is hilarious!

[remdog]

Originally Posted by Santo Alcala

Has anyone read "Pennant Race" by Jim Brosnan? It's a game by game chronicle of the Reds' 1961 season. I bought it one day and just haven't cracked it open yet.

I read it----back when it first came out. I then re-read it years later and still enjoyed it. Brosnan also had another book by the name of "The Long Season". Somewhere in one of the two I learned one of the best tips I ever saw about 'how to play the game'. It involved ways to kill time in the Bull Pen. The tip: shoot stick match 'flares' at the fans in the stands during the game and watch them defend themselves. It was very simple really---take a stick match and wrap the head in the foil from gum wrappers. Stick the match, upright, in a little dirt and then use another match to heat the head of the first match until the exploding match head hurdles it off into the stands.

Of course, it might be tough to do today since it's harder and harder to find stick matches and I don't think I've seen a stick of gum rapped in foil in years.

Rem

[RichRed]

Originally Posted by Santo Alcala

Has anyone read "Pennant Race" by Jim Brosnan? It's a game by game chronicle of the Reds' 1961 season. I bought it one day and just haven't cracked it open yet.

I read it several times as a kid and loved it. It's kind of an earlier, tamer version of Ball Four, only with the Reds. You should open that book already!

Right now, I'm reading Robert Creamer's Baseball in '41- a book that came out around 1991 about what he calls the greatest baseball season of his lifetime (he was 18 during that season). Teddy hit .406, JoeD hit in 56 straight, the Brooklyn Dodgers finally made it to the World Series, etc. - all of this against the backdrop of the U.S.'s impending involvement in WWII. Fascinating stuff.

[goreds2]

In the 1970's, I had an oversized hard cover black book simply called BASEBALL. Very good informative reading telling the greatest moments in baseball with lots of great pictures showing the only midget to bat, Bobby Thompson's homerun etc. It is still around the house somewhere as my son has also read through this book.

[cumberlandreds]

Originally Posted by goreds2

In the 1970's, I had an oversized hard cover black book simply called BASEBALL. Very good informative reading telling the greatest moments in baseball with lots of great pictures showing the only midget to bat, Bobby Thompson's homerun etc. It is still around the house somewhere as my son has also read through this book.

I had that book too! It's a great book for younger fans to learn about the past.
The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn was the best baseball book I have ever read. Truly fine written book! I think it may have won a Pullitzer Prize but not sure about that. Ball Four was great too. It was a real eye opener for a young teenager back in the 70's about ballplayers off the field. I guess before I read that I thought the players just went back to their hotel room and watched reruns of Gilligans Island.:
Glory of Their Times and Summer of '41 are highly reccomended too. Also both of Jim Brosnan's books too. I checked them out of the library many years ago and read them. I don't think I had ever heard of Jim Brosnan before then. Like someone else said a tamer version of Ball Four but very funny.

[RichRed]

Roger Kahn has another, lesser known, book called Good Enough to Dream about his involvement with the independent Utica Blue Sox and the players on that team holding on to their dream of one day making it to the bigs. Very entertaining, came out in the 80s, I believe.

[vaticanplum]

Bumping this for a question...

Has anybody read "Heart of the Order" by Tony Ardizzone?

[Reds Nd2]

Originally Posted by jmcclain19

I also really enjoyed "The Knucklebook" by Dave Clark. A 360 degree look at the knuckleball, who's thrown it, how to throw it, how to catch it, how to coach it, everything you could possibly want to know.

"The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up." - Bob Uecker

I just received an autographed copy of Tales from the Reds Dugout for my birthday, so that's what I'm currently reading. I'd have to say that overall, my favorite book is MoneybaLL. I've read other books that I've enjoyed more, but that was the book that got me started learning more about this game we all love.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by RichRed

Roger Kahn has another, lesser known, book called Good Enough to Dream about his involvement with the independent Utica Blue Sox and the players on that team holding on to their dream of one day making it to the bigs. Very entertaining, came out in the 80s, I believe.

I picked up that book this summer. I always like reading about the minors and how things work down there.

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by RichRed

Roger Kahn has another, lesser known, book called Good Enough to Dream about his involvement with the independent Utica Blue Sox and the players on that team holding on to their dream of one day making it to the bigs. Very entertaining, came out in the 80s, I believe.

I read it and loved it baseball books are something a person buys and keeps. If you get them from the library and like them you eventually buy them. Baseball books are a recyclable read in that they are something you can re-read every 10 years.

[Rex Argos]

Lords of the Realm by John Helyar is an outstanding history of baseball's labor movement. It provides many examples of the stupidity of ownership, and the brilliance of Marvin Miller. It's a long book and not a quick read by any means--but it gives the reader a good perspective.

[westofyou]

baseball books are something a person buys and keeps.

Yep, I currently have 173 of them, and I'm running out of shelf space.

One that I found very interesting is



http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Natio.../dp/0691034885

[RichRed]

I'm re-reading Ball Four for the first time in 20-plus years. It's as entertaining today as it was back then.